This article discusses the anatomy and physiology of the pelvic floor and the important role it plays during childbirth. It will also consider damage that can be caused to the pelvic floor and in the genital/rectal region. Urinary and faecal incontinence, perineal injury (naturally occurring or surgically induced) and haemorrhoids can cause a lot of distress and pain for many women following childbirth. Alleviating the distress and pain associated with these problems is vitally important and will be explored.

This book provides, practical and visual information that is written in plain English. Pregnancy, birth and following birth is covered in detail. The care and support during pregnancy, birth and the transition to parenthood is described and discussed.It is a comprehensive guide and a useful resource that pregnant women and their partners will find easy to understand.

The active engagement of fathers in maternity care is associated with long-term health and social benefits for the mother, baby and family. This study's aim was to identify and synthesise good quality qualitative research that explores the views and experiences of fathers who have encountered maternity care in high resource settings. A pre-determined search strategy identified 23 papers published between January 1999 and January 2010. Analysis was based on the metaethnographic techniques of Noblit and hare (1988) as amended by Downe et al, (2007). The emerging themes were: risk and uncertainty, exclusion, fear and frustation, the ideal and the reality, issues of support and experiencing transition.The following synthesis was generated from these themes:Most fathers in the included studies saw themselves as partner and parent, with a strong desire to support their partners and to be fully engaged with the process of becoming a father. However, the experience of maternity care was often as not-patient and not visitor. This situated them in an interstitial and undefined space (both emotionally and physically) with the consequence that many felt uncertain, excluded and fearful.

The day-by-day pregnancy book is an unprecedented, comprehensive guide to pregnancy, labour and birth. Under the guidance of a consultant obstetrician it presents information from a team of professionals who spend their lives caring for women during pregnancy, labour, birth and following birth